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Marvel Stars Pitched All-Female Superhero Film

admingOctober 31, 2017Views 6

Tessa Thompson has revealed which other Marvel Cinematic Universe actors helped her to pitch an all-female MCU movie to Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige. Thompson, who costars as the warrior Valkyrie in Thor: Ragnarok (which is already playing in theaters overseas), had previously revealed that she and several others had pitched an all-female Marvel superhero film to Feige, but neglected at the time to mention who else was involved with the meeting.

It turns out that several female MCU stars were involved in pitching the idea to Feige, including Scarlett Johansson (who plays Natasha Romanoff aka. Black Widow) and the three female leads in the Guardians of the Galaxy movies; Zoe Saldana (Gamora), Karen Gillan (Nebula), and Pom Klementieff (Mantis). Even Brie Larson, who has yet to make her onscreen debut as Carol Danvers aka. Captain Marvel in the MCU, was part of the group effort.

Related: Tessa Thompson Clarifies Comments on Valkyrie’s Bisexuality

Speaking to CBR, Thompson confirmed the names of everyone involved in making the all-female superhero movie pitch. She also explained how the idea evolved from being a sequence in next year’s Avengers: Infinity War – one that pairs the many female superheroes of the MCU together – to an entire movie, in and of itself:

“I think in that group was Brie Larson, myself, Zoe Saldana, although she ran off to the bathroom, I think, so she came midway through the pitch but she had been in the rev-up to it. Scarlett Johansson. Pom [Klementieff] and Karen [Gillan], who are both in the Guardians movies. Yeah, I think it was that group. We were just sort of all in a semicircle talking, and it just came up, because none of us really worked together – well, I suppose Zoe, and Karen, and Pom – and wouldn’t it be nice if we could all work together?

“And we were sort of speculating on they ways in which it might happen in Infinity War, or might not happen,” she continued. “And we thought, ‘No, we should just have a whole movie where we know every day we’re going to arrive and get to work together.’ So we just ran right up to Kevin Feige and started talking about it.”

Thompson neglected to elaborate on how successful their pitch was, but did praise Feige for being open to considering ideas from his collaborators:

“That’s the thing that’s so fantastic about Kevin is you always get general interest from him. At least when you start speaking, and then you might get 10 minutes in, and you sense that maybe something is not as exciting. But no, he’s really open to collaboration and wants to hear what we’re interested in.”

The ongoing Phase 3 of the MCU is only slated to include one film headlined by a female superhero (Captain Marvel), as well as one co-headlined by a future female Avenger (Ant-Man and the Wasp), but after that it’s open season as far as where the franchise will go next. While the long-proposed Black Widow solo film might be a long shot for Phase 4 of the MCU (at least, a version that stars Johansson), there are several other fan-favorite Marvel Comics characters lined up and ready to headline a movie of their own. That list includes America Chavez aka. Miss America, a character that actors like Brooklyn Nine-Nine‘s Stephanie Beatriz and Jane the Virgin‘s Gina Rodriguez have expressed interest in playing, multiple times now.

It’s commonly accepted that Marvel Studios needs more female superheroes leading their movies, with even something like the raunchy video game South Park: The Fractured But Whole having called out Marvel’s movie sexism now. Even by the time Captain Marvel hits theaters in early 2019, younger cinematic superhero universes like the DC Comics and Sony’s Marvel movie franchise will have both released installments solo headlined by female characters (see Wonder Woman and Silver & Black, respectively). An all-female superhero adventure, like what Thompson and the other pitched, would certainly help in this respect and could take on a variety of forms, at that (for example, a movie featuring the all-female comic book team Lady Liberators).